India v England 2008

[sohum]

KP looked completely out of it today. ZaK looks pretty dangerous now with the reverse swing. I'd like to see what Sharma can do with it.

 

[King Pietersen]

How rubbish did Pietersen look? =/ Worst innings I've seen from him in ages, worst to watch than that awful hundred he made in New Zealand, that he claimed was his best ever innings. That was one horrible innings to watch, today's was worse though.

Strauss has been impressive, he's had a good 2008 so far, that's his 3rd hundred to add to the 2 against New Zealand, and a hundred away in India is always proof of a good player. He's always had the talent, just seriously lacked confidence in 2007. 2007 was his only bad year if you look at the statistics. If he can build from here, and maintain the level of confidence, he'll be guaranteed a place for the Ashes, and he'll deserve it as well.

Zaheer's been immense. Definitely one of the best bowlers in World Cricket atm. Incredibly good at bowling reverse swing, and had Pietersen all over the place, although Yuvraj did as well, so it's not saying much . Just glad Sharma's not in the attack as well.

Edit:
Collingwood gone as well, incredibly harsh decision, but it was a pretty awful innings all the same. England are awful.

 

[sohum]

I sense that India can grab a couple of wickets here before stumps if they capitalize on their momentum. Ishant is looking dangerous and if we can get Mishra in for a second spell, we will be very well-placed tomorrow.

 

[Amiya]

Collingwood was a victim of wrong decision. Really sad.

 

[King Pietersen]

Strauss gone as well. Brilliant innings, but a pretty poor way to get out. Now we're relying on Prior and Flintoff to build a partnership. We have to make at least 350, if we don't we'll lose the test. Simple as.

 

[karnog]

Personally put Bell at 5, Collingwood should be dropped and Shah comes in at 4. Push KP to number 3. Simple and effective.

Time for prior to justify his selection.

 

[King Pietersen]

KP doesn't want to bat at 3 in Tests. Put Shah at 3, Pietersen at 4, Bell at 5. Bell's always been better slightly down the order, I'm not convinced by him at 3. Shah would do a much better job.

 

[vaibhav mehta]

Great knock by Strauss.
I knew that was coming even before the match started.Z Khan has won the day for India at last.That was so sloppy from middle order.I don't think moaning again and again for Shah is going to help England.Hope Flintoff finishes a day quietly.

 

[aussie_ben91]

LOL @ England

So predictable. Pietersen fails and the team falls apart. Things could've been really ugly had Strauss not made runs at the top of the order.

 

[angryangy]

India can't win this match, Strauss got a hundred.

 

[aditya123]

Looks like it was a well fought day of cricket.
229/5 is more or less even but I feel India have a slight edge.

So what was the crowd like ? Decent ?
A crowd of 10-15,000 is decent enough for test match cricket.It would fill most grounds in England.

 

[Themer]

Quite even India on top though. The Flintoff Prior partnership, that is if Flintoff doesn't get out before then shall be key for the whole game England need 350 min.

 

[SaiSrini]

Looks like it was a well fought day of cricket.
229/5 is more or less even but I feel India have a slight edge.

So what was the crowd like ? Decent ?
A crowd of 10-15,000 is decent enough for test match cricket.It would fill most grounds in England.

I guess the crowds were in the range of 5000-8000, which doesnt sound good for Chennai. Here, the hype about the test is almost non-existent. People are just not talking about the test in the excited tone that they would normally do. Gillespie is right - test cricket is sliding fast (atleast in India, as with the crowds).

Very good comeback from India to have England at 229/5. Its India's day in the end. Zak and Bhajji have done well as usual. Harbhajan is fitting in well as our prime spinner. If we can get them below 350, we are well set. We should finish them off by first session tomorrow and bat really long. Since we got to bat last, we got to bat really big and get a huge lead.

saisrini80 added 3 Minutes and 16 Seconds later...

Yuvraj certaint to play. Link

Great Forecast for Chennai. sometimes I question the intelligence of the BCCI :

I guess this time fortunately, the first day has been very clear. lets hope the remaining days are as clear as today. It was quite hot today with humidity levels being high. The cyclone that was approaching Chennai seems to have weakened considerably and might not hit us at all.

saisrini80 added 2 Minutes and 5 Seconds later...

england have a good chance of winning this match being the 1st test. india is not good in its first match into a test series.

Who cares about previous records? We're under Dhoni.

 

[m_vaughan]

I guess the crowds were in the range of 5000-8000, which doesnt sound good for Chennai. Here, the hype about the test is almost non-existent. People are just not talking about the test in the excited tone that they would normally do. Gillespie is right - test cricket is sliding fast (atleast in India, as with the crowds).

The people are fools then. Anyways I dont think test matches drew much crowds during weekdays anyways. Will have to wait and see what the attendances are like on the weekend before one can comment on the decline of test cricket.

 

[nikhil_99]

Harbhajan and Zaheer bowled well,India should try to bowl out England as soon as possible,the wicket is good,but batting 4th on any pitch would be difficult,so tomottow morning tis upto Zahher and Ishant,India would be hoping that they get 2-3 quick wickets in 1st session....